Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of June 16
June 16, 2023
Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending June 16. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Banco Bradesco (BBD): now $0.0039 per share monthly dividend, was $0.0035. Bank First (BFC): now $0.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.25. Caterpillar (CAT): now $1.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.20. CT Real Estate Investment Trust (UN:CA): now CAD 0.0749 per share monthly dividend, was CAD 0.0723. Essential Properties (EPRT): now $0.28 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.275. Host Hotels & Resorts (HST):
UnitedHealth Group’s Long-Term Story Intact
June 14, 2023
Image: UnitedHealth Group’s shares are facing pressure as the pace of medical procedures normalizes following COVID-19. We still like shares. By Brian Nelson, CFA On June 7, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) raised its quarterly dividend nearly 14%, to $1.88 per share, which reflects a forward estimated dividend yield of 1.65%. The company remains a staple in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio and is a new add in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Recent comments by UNH’s John Rex on June 14 regarding the firm’s healthcare costs during the second quarter have put shares under pressure during the trading session. Discretionary surgeries have picked back up following a lull during most of the COVID-19 pandemic as hospital capacity was largely constrained during
ESG Facing Opposition But Still an Indispensable Component of Investing
June 13, 2023
Image: Shares of Anheuser-Busch Inbev (BUD) and Target (TGT) have fallen 16%+ and 22%+, respectively, since the beginning of April. By Brian Nelson, CFA When it comes to investing, Environmental [E], Social [S], and Governance [G] considerations are an absolute must. If a company pollutes the environment, shareholders suffer as the stock reels from fines and other liabilities. If a company doesn’t treat its workers and customers well, its culture will suffer and so eventually will its service and profits. If the company’s corporate oversight is not at or approaching best practices, wrongdoing at the top becomes much more likely. Whether investors pursue ESG investing outright, or assess such considerations indirectly outside the ESG context, the core components of ESG
Oracle Hits All-Time Highs; Larry Ellison Pumps AI Opportunity
June 13, 2023
Image: Newsletter portfolio holding Oracle surges to all-time highs! “Oracle’s Gen2 Cloud has quickly become the number 1 choice for running Generative AI workloads. Why? Because Oracle has the highest performance, lowest cost GPU cluster technology in the world. NVIDIA (NVDA) themselves are using our clusters, including one with more than 4,000 GPUs, for their AI infrastructure. Our GPU clusters are built using the highest-bandwidth and lowest-latency RDMA network—and scale up to 32,000 GPUs. As a result, cutting edge companies doing LLM development such as Mosaic ML, Adept AI, Cohere plus 30 other AI development companies have recently signed contracts to purchase more than $2 billion of capacity in Oracle’s Gen2 Cloud.” – Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison By Brian
FDA Accepts License Application for Vertex Pharma’s and CRISPR Therapeutics’ Key Investigational Treatment
June 12, 2023
Image: Vertex’s pipeline is impressive. We like its areas of focus and the progress it continues to make with key therapies in CRISPR and pain management. By Brian Nelson, CFA On June 8, it was announced that the Biologics License Applications (BLAs) for the investigational treatment exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel) for sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT) from two of our favorite speculative biotech entities Vertex Pharma (VRTX) and CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) have been accepted by the U.S. FDA. The submission received Priority Review for SCD, and exa-cel has the potential to be the first CRISPR gene-editing therapy to be approved. We continue to be huge fans of this technology and Vertex’s risk-adjusted exposure to the potential
Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of June 9
June 9, 2023
Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending June 9. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE): now $1.24 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.21. Casey’s General Stores (CASY): now $0.43 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.38. Guess? (GES): now $0.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.23. Johnson Controls International (JCI): now $0.37 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.36. NetEase (NTES): now $0.465 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.435. Oil Dri (ODC): now $0.29 per share
Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of June 2
June 2, 2023
Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending June 2. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Bruker (BRKR): now $0.06 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.05. Clearway Energy (CWEN): now $0.3818 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.3745. Golar LNG (GLNG): now $0.25 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.15. Infosys Limited (INFY): now $0.213349 per share semi-annual dividend, was $0.2005. Laurentian Bank of Canada (LB:CA): now CAD 0.47 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 0.46. National Bank of Canada (NA:CA): now
ICYMI: The Impact Rising Interest Rates Have on Equity REITs
June 1, 2023
Image: REITs have not performed as well as one might have thought. The Vanguard REIT ETF has underperformed the broader market considerably since 2015, while dividends per share have not grown much, if at all, since 2005. Source: Vanguard By Brian Nelson, CFA The question on most everyone’s minds: How will equity real estate investment trusts (REITs) fare in the current rising interest-rate environment? The topic has long been debated and studied, and there are myriad opinions on the subject. From where we stand, however, there are two main moving parts consisting of fundamental and investment dynamics that investors should be aware of. Let’s have a look. Fundamental Considerations In the discounted cash-flow (enterprise) valuation context, a rising nominal interest rate (real + inflation)
